CANNES, Nov 3: French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that a tax on financial transactions is possible, necessary and moral, adding that Brazil and Argentina were not opposed to such a levy.

Sarkozy said he believed that such a tax was “technically possible, financially indispensable and morally inarguable.

“Some countries were very opposed to it,” he acknowledged after the first day of the G20 summit of the world's most powerful economies, but he welcomed what he said was Brazil and Argentina's signal they were not opposed to it.

France and Germany have been pushing for a small tax on financial transactions to be adopted at the G20 as a mechanism to force markets to help pay for government efforts to rescue debt-riden economies.

However, the scheme has run into opposition from the United States, Canada, Russia and China although Sarkozy indicated earlier Thursday following talks with President Barack Obama that US objections may be softening.—AFP